San Diego Prep Boys’ Basketball : Aunese Helps Vista Defeat San Pasqual

Sal Aunese, who made the clutch plays for Vista High School’s San Diego Section 3-A champion football team as a quarterback, continued in a similar role for the Panther basketball team Thursday in the Lt. James Mitchell Tournament at Torrey Pines.

Aunese made 9 of 11 free throws, all in one-and-one situations down the stretch, as Vista held off San Pasqual, 50-39. The Panthers moved to 1-1 in the tournament, while San Pasqual fell to 0-2.

Vista lead, 31-27, going into the fourth quarter. Every time the Eagles pulled close, Aunese converted a free throw to keep the Panthers in the lead.

Aunese led all scorers with 15 points. Mike Jones added 14 for Vista, while Jeff Baglio led San Pasqual with 14.

In other Mitchell tournament action at Torrey Pines:

El Camino 84, Escondido 43--The Wildcats moved to 2-0 in the tournament and 6-2 overall as they easily beat the Cougars. Using a pressing defense and controlling the boards, El Camino led, 20-4, after one quarter and was never pressured. El Camino put four players in double figures, led by Ken Crawford with 20 points and Steve Heard with 16. All nine Wildcat players scored.

Fallbrook 65, Torrey Pines 49--Mike Weems scored 19 points for the Warriors, who evened their tournament record at 1-1. Fallbrook led, 37-22, at halftime, and held its margin throughout the second half. Chris Hansen added 12 points for Fallbrook. Torrey Pines was led by Jeff Steffen, with 14 points.

Briefly: Hoover (Glendale) 51, San Clemente 43.

In Mitchell tournament action at San Dieguito:

Yuma 77, San Marcos 43--Cory Scudder scored 18 points to lead Yuma to an easy win. Mike Peyroux scored 12 and Mike Francis had 11 for San Marcos.

Briefly: Newport Harbor 51, Burroughs (Burbank) 38.

In nonleague action:

Kearny 50, Hoover 49--Sean Gibbs of the Komets made a free throw with five seconds left to break a 49-49 tie at Hoover. The Cardinals trailed, 49-47, before Steve Schmunk hit an 18-foot jump shot with 24 seconds left to tie the score. Kearny’s Steve Daley led all scorers with 22 points. Ken Matthews paced Hoover with 19 points.

Ramona 68, Christian 51--Mike Pendell scored 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Ramona (3-3) to its third consecutive nonleague win. Pendell, a 6-foot 4-inch power forward made 70% of his shots from the floor.

Playing at home, Ramona jumped out to a 16-8 lead after one quarter. Christian pulled within 28-24 at intermission, but Ramona outscored the Patriots, 24-15, in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Sean Clancy added 18 points for Ramona.

“Overall we played very strong team defense,” Ramona Coach Larry Bingham said. “We created a lot of scoring opportunities because of our defense. We did a good job early. We played with a lot of intensity in both opening quarters.”